Companies seek the proper words for yuletide greetings

Monday

Decorations, salutations and cards present a potential minefield for businesses trying to decide whether “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” is the best greeting for the season.

Decorations, salutations and cards present a potential minefield for businesses trying to decide whether “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” is the best greeting for the season.

According to a 2007 survey by Rasmussen Reports, two-thirds of Americans preferred “Merry Christmas,” and one in four people prefer “Happy Holidays.”

Public opinion polls aside, the best policies for how companies handle it internally come when management lets the staff do the talking.

“In most cases, it really depends on the corporate culture of the organization and the diversity of the work force,” said Christina Kamer, a Rockford-based HR consultant. “My experience has been that employees will express their preference. If it’s an open culture, one that embraces diversity, employees will feel comfortable expressing their opinions about how they would like to celebrate.

“Some companies completely ignore the holidays, and it’s business as usual. Organizations that are more progressive will either delegate the employee events to a committee, and the committee will discuss what’s best and submit recommendations.”

SwedishAmerican Health System doesn’t have a written policy, but employees are asked to be sensitive to co-workers and patients who may have different beliefs.

“We have 3,000-plus employees, and we have such a diversification in our work force,” said Harvey Lightbody, vice president of human resources. “When we put our patients in the mix, that’s a huge, diverse population. We request our employees to say ‘Happy Holidays.’”

Although the hospital has a holiday party, it has Christmas trees up and hosts a breakfast with Santa for its employees’ families. Each medical group and doctor’s office is free to decorate their areas as they wish.

“I think people just respect each others’ view on this,” he said. “Someone could say ‘Merry Christmas,’ and we don’t instruct our employees not to say ‘Merry Christmas’ back.”

Dan Arnold, president of Road Ranger, said his company has two policies: Official company greetings and expressions are “Merry Christmas,” but individual employees can use whatever they feel is appropriate.

“If a clerk feels more comfortable saying ‘Happy Holidays’ or our signature ‘I appreciate your business,’ either one is more than acceptable to us. There’s no service requirement, but we are keenly aware of the explosiveness of this issue on a corporate policy level.”

Arnold said the policy was an understood one, but not official, until 2005. That’s when Fox News brought Christmas vs. Holidays to the forefront.

“When it became an issue, we had to stop and ask ourselves what our policy was,” he said. “At that time, we clarified it so there would be no mistake. The last thing anyone would want to do is lose a customer. This seems a logical compromise. We would never require, nor could we, an employee to make a greeting they thought was inappropriate to their own faith.”

Sean F. Driscoll can be reached at (815) 987-1346 or sdriscoll@rrstar.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.